Readings for ECON 1201 Principles of Microeconomics (DRAFT #13)
Below are the Schedule and Supplementary Readings for our class:
Tentative Class Schedule
The required readings below should be completed before class on the dates indicated. I reserve the right to make reasonable changes to the schedule as necessary, so please check back periodically.
I have also suggested some specific optional readings at appropriate points, though in general the supplementary reading could be started and completed at any point. Also note that the optional readings may contain material at a very advanced level; however, it's useful to learn how to read advanced material so as to glean the main points without getting bogged down in the details, and they may profitably be approached in that spirit.
Tuesday, 9/1
- Bauman 1 (Introduction)
- Optional: Schelling 1 (Micromotives and macrobehavior)
Thursday, 9/3
Tuesday, 9/8
- Smith, Adam. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776. (Also available in PDF or EPUB via Google Books.)
- I:1 (Of the division of labour)
- I:2 (Of the principle which gives occasion to the division of labour)
- I:3 (That the division of labour is limited by the extent of the market)
- IV:2 (Of restraints upon importation from foreign countries of such goods as can be produced at home)
- Friedman, Milton. "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits." The New York Times Magazine, September 13, 1970.
- Optional: Elster 10 (Unintended consequences)
- Optional: Hayek, F.A. "The Use of Knowledge in Society." The American Economic Review 35, no. 4 (September 1945): 519-530.
- Optional: Bailey, Ronald. "'Chiefs, Thieves, and Priests': Science writer Matt Ridley on the causes of poverty and prosperity." Reason, February 2009.
Thursday, 9/10
- Lab: Bergstrom 11 (Comparative advantage)
- McAfee 2.6 (Trade)
Tuesday, 9/15
Thursday, 9/17
Tuesday, 9/22
- Bauman 5 (From One to Some)
- Bauman 6 (Cake cutting)
- Optional: Coase, R.H. "The Problem of Social Cost." Journal of Law and Economics 3 (October 1960): 1-44.
- Optional: Elster 11 (Equilibrium)
Thursday, 9/24
- Bauman 7 (Pareto efficiency)
Tuesday, 9/29
- Bauman 8 (Simultaneous-move games)
Thursday, 10/1
- Quiz #1 on material through 9/24
- Bauman 18 (Sequential-move games)
Tuesday, 10/6
- Lab: Bergstrom 14 (Bargaining)
- Optional: Chiarella, Tom. "Haggling for Hot Dogs." Esquire, January 31, 2005.
- Optional: Henrich, Joseph, Robert Boyd, Samuel Bowles, Colin Camerer, Ernst Fehr, Herbert Gintis, and Richard McElreath. "In Search of Homo Economicus: Behavioral Experiments in 15 Small-Scale Societies." The American Economic Review 91, no. 2 (May 2001): 73-78.
- Optional: Elster 14 (Bargaining)
Thursday, 10/8
- Bauman 19 (Iterated dominance and Nash equilibrium)
- McAfee 7.1 (Games)
Tuesday, 10/13
- Bauman 17 (Fisheries)
- Optional: Schelling 3 (Thermostats, lemons, and other families of models)
- Optional: Schelling 7 (Hockey helmets, daylight saving, and other binary choices)
- Optional: Elster 13 (Collective action)
- Optional: Pennisi, Elizabeth. "On the Origin of Cooperation." Science 325, no. 5945 (September 4, 2009): 1196-1199. doi:10.1126/science.325_1196.
Thursday, 10/15
Tuesday, 10/20
- McAfee 7.6 (Auctions)
- Bauman 10 (From some to many)
Thursday, 10/22
- Lab: Bergstrom 3 (A sales tax)
- Bauman 11 (Supply and demand)
Tuesday, 10/27
- Optional: Bell, Frederick W. "The Pope and the Price of Fish". The American Economic Review 58, no. 5 (December 1968): 1346-1350.
- Optional: Frank 4 (Why some buyers pay more than others...)
Thursday, 10/29
- Bauman 20 (Supply and demand details)
Tuesday, 11/3
- (Lab Rescheduled)
- Bauman 12 (Taxes)
Thursday, 11/5
- Bauman 13 (Margins)
- Bauman 14 (Elasticity)
Tuesday, 11/10
- Goldhill, David. "How American Health Care Killed My Father." The Atlantic, September 2009.
- Conaway, Laura (ed.). "Podcast: Health Insurance Is Like An All-You-Can-Eat Buffet." Mp3, August 31, 2009.
- Friedman, Chapter 18, "Information Problems"
- Optional: Joffe-Walt, Chana. "Drug Coupons Hide True Costs From Consumers." All Things Considered, October 20, 2009.
- Optional: Arnott, Richard, and Kenneth Small. "The economics of traffic congestion: rush-hour driving strategies that maximize an individual driver's convenience may contribute to overall congestion." American Scientist, 1994.
Thursday, 11/12
- Bauman 15 (Transition: Welfare economics)
- Summers, Lawrence H. "Memo: GEP," December 12, 1991. (but c.f. this background)
- Quiz #2 on material through 11/5
Tuesday, 11/17
- Lab: Bergstrom 7 (Monopolies and cartels)
Thursday, 11/19
- Optional: Coase, R.H. "The Nature of the Firm." Economica 4, no. 16. 2 (November 1937): 386-405.
- Optional: Alchian, Armen A, and Harold Demsetz. "Production, Information Costs, and Economic Organization." The American Economic Review 62, no. 5 (December 1972): 777-795.
Tuesday, 12/1
Thursday, 12/3
- Class Notes (Perfect competition)
Tuesday, 12/8
- Class Notes (Entry and exit)
Thursday, 12/10
- Class Notes (Welfare implications of market structure)
- McAfee 7.7 (Antitrust)
- "Digital publishing: Google's big book case." The Economist, September 3, 2009.
- "Google books: Tome raider." The Economist, September 3, 2009.
- Samuelson, Pamela. "Why is the Antitrust Division Investigating the Google Book Search Settlement?" The Huffington Post, August 19, 2009.
- Optional: Cavanaugh, William F., Preet Bharara, and John D. Clopper. "Authors Guild, et al. v. Google: Statement of Interest of the United States of America Regarding Proposed Class Settlement." U.S. Department of Justice, September 18, 2009.
- Optional: Grimmelmann, James. "How to Fix the Google Book Search Settlement." Journal of Internet Law 12, no. 10 (April 2009): 1,11-20.
The following are books, mostly written for a general audience, that are suitable for reading independently this semester. Many of them emphasize the application of economic principles to daily life and/or important policy issues; these may be a good starting point for finding a topic you'd like to research further, as well as the source of good examples for class discussion. None are required, but reading at least a few chapters that interest you would be a Good Idea.
- The Fatal Equilibrium by Marshall Jevons is a murder mystery written by two economists. It's a painless and fun introduction to the way economists see the world.
- The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas, by Robert H. Frank, is chock full of short examples of puzzling phenomena from everyday life with potential economic explanations. It's the kind of book that's easy to read in short chunks whenever you find time. Also available for purchase at the UCONN Co-op.
- Micromotives and Macrobehavior, by Nobel prize winner Thomas Schelling, may be the most challenging book on this list; although light on equations and graphs, it demands that elusive quality sometimes called "mathematical maturity". I wish someone had introduced me to it when I was an undergrad, and I recommend it highly. On reserve at the UCONN Library and available for purchase at the UCONN Co-op.
- Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life is the "lite" version of David D. Friedman's excellent intermediate microeconomics text. If it seems too advanced at this point, you may want to tackle it again when you take ECON 2201. On reserve at the UCONN library.
- Economic Analysis of Law, by Richard A. Posner, is an excellent starting point if you're interested in the economic implications of and rationale for laws and regulations. (Note that David Friedman has also written on this subject, as has UCONN's own Thomas Miceli.)
- Despite its vintage, Steven E. Landsburg's Armchair Economist: Economics & Everyday Life remains one of the best books of its kind. Highly recommended. Also see Landsburg's "Everyday Economics" column at Slate.
- The many short essays that Nobel prize winner Gary Becker wrote for Business Week are collected in The Economics of Life: From Baseball to Affirmative Action to Immigration, How Real-World Issues Affect Our Everyday Life. Becker has continued this tradition of writing for a popular audience in a blog co-authored with Richard Posner.
- Fernand Braudel's Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century, beginning with Vol. I: The Structure of Everyday Life, is a classic work that may interest the historians among us.
- Jon Elster's Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences is another of those books I wish I'd had as an undergrad. It's well worth the investment for students of philosophy or the social and behavioral sciences in general. (Note that the chapter numbering above refers to the 1989 edition; your mileage may vary.)
- I haven't yet read Levitt's and Dubner's Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, but it was a surprise best seller and I expect it's another great introduction to the economic perspective on everyday life.
- There are several other recent books which I haven't yet read, but which look promising:
I hope that's enough to keep you busy. (Sorry, but I couldn't find a book about the economics of zombies...)
Note: income from the affiliate links above will be spent on snacks for the class.
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